Early Humans Walked Farther With Heel-Strike Method
A new study from Penn State suggests that the human heel-strike walking method evolved to increase energy efficiency, allowing early hominins to travel further. While this adaptation enabled long-distance movement, it also increased impact forces on joints, necessitating the evolution of stronger skeletal structures.
Why it matters
This research provides evolutionary context for human physical development and explains the biomechanical trade-offs that shaped modern human mobility.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The average person takes thousands of steps each day, instinctively walking heel-to-toe. Although they hardly register them, those consistent heel-first strides are more unique to humans than previously thought and allowed early hominins to walk farther more efficiently, but at the cost of higher impact forces on bones and joints, according to a new study led by a researcher at Penn State.
The team said the findings, published today (Sept. 8) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , shed light on an evolutionary adaptation that made early human walking more efficient, ultimately helping our ancestors to adopt hunting and gathering practices and spread across the world.
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